Wavelet transform and frequency domain kurtosis: application to assessment of hearing hazard from noise exposure

Research on the effects of noise on the auditory system has shown that the frequency domain kurtosis (FDK) statistic could be a useful metric in quantifying a noise environment for hearing conservation purposes. Joint time-frequency analytical methods used in signal processing may be of use in the extraction of such information from an exposure environment characterized by nonstationary signals. This paper shows that the FDK metric can be efficiently computed by applying the wavelet transform to the analysis of an acoustic signal.